Author's Note: This is a story I wrote about the Dukes and their first years at the farm. I tried to keep it with them from the point where they got to the farm, and carry on throughout a couple of years. It's a growing and learning experience for all of them. There are also notes at the end of each chapter, a credit of sorts to a father from his son.
Warning : The warning is placed here for vinsmouse, who wanted a spew warning here, claiming it might be a bad idea to drink while reading the funnier parts. So please keep in mind that drinking any kind of beverage while reading this, might be hazzard'ous to the health of your screen.
Disclaimer: The Duke Boys are not mine, I don't own the Duke boys, nor the General Lee. I promise that once I'm through with them, there will be nothing broken that a trip to Cooter's garage can't fix….
Learning To Love…
Chapter 24 ……….Sleepovers
Bo walked beside Luke, holding on to his hand while letting Luke carry both bags. He only carried his Teddy bear. He had never been on a sleepover before, though both Luke and Daisy had. This time however when Luke was going to spend the night with Cooter, Bo had been invited as well. He had thought it would be real fun, because he really liked Cooter.
He had discovered just like Luke had that Cooter didn't really care if you were little. He was a good friend anyway, and he was just as happy to play with Bo as with Luke. Even if Luke wasn't with them Cooter would still play with him. He'd let Bo ride piggy back, and he'd let him play with all of his toys.
He was kind of nervous about being gone the whole night though, but he was going to sleep in Cooter's room with both Luke and Cooter. He supposed that wouldn't be too bad.
"Hey there," Cooter beamed as he saw them, he was just crawling out from under an old car. As he grew older, he was starting to tinker more and more, and was a great help to his fathers. Since he officially worked for him some afternoons and weekends, his father paid him a salary together with his allowance. Cooter was putting some aside, but he was also spending some of it. He had bough up an old car that he was working on, planning to have it ready for driving by the time he got his license.
Luke was saving up money to try and do the same, he had almost ten dollars in a jar at home. That seemed like a fortune to Bo, but Luke said it wasn't enough.
"Ain't we gonna have some fun?" Cooter beamed at them.
"Lots' a fun," Bo declared, waving his teddy bear in the air. Letting go off Luke he ran forward, laughing as Cooter scooped him up and spun him around in a circle. Putting Bo down Cooter ran over and grabbed Luke, throwing him up in the air as well. He had already noticed that Luke was changing as he grew. Before he had always run forward the same way Bo did, but he had stopped doing that, he still loved it though, it was plain to see by his face when Cooter threw him over his shoulder.
He had heard his parents call Luke a very serious child, and while Cooter couldn't understand why he would want to be that, he supposed it was true. Already at eight Luke could be more serious than many other kids Cooter knew.
There was just something there Cooter couldn't explain, but when he did things like carrying Luke over to the haystack and throwing him in it, he seemed to forget it for a little while.
"Me to," Bo cried jumping up and down as he wanted Cooter to throw him as well, and Cooter was only to happy to fulfill his wish. Bo was lighter than Luke, and Cooter was pretty strong, so Cooter threw him higher up in the haystack then he had thrown Luke. Bo laughed loudly as he slid down, passing Luke and running back to Cooter.
"Again!" he shouted, and Cooter complied. Luke had dared to slip back down on the ground and Cooter treated him to a new flight as well. The teddy bear and the bags lay discarded on the ground for the time being.
Bo kept running over, but Luke carefully sidled off towards the car instead. He didn't want to admit it, but his fear of heights made itself known again and it was embarrassing. Maybe he could stand the height easily enough, but to be thrown up there? Not really. Instead he crawled in under the car where Cooter had been, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Hey Luke, be careful there buddy," Cooter called as he saw where Luke was. "I'm still working on the exhausts, they might come lose."
"Come lose?" Luke frowned as he looked at them.
"Yeah Luke, come lose, drop, an' hit ya in the head," Cooter went on.
"What are ya doing with them, I can help," Luke told him, still peering up, but not touching anything.
"Okay, sure ya can," Cooter grinned. "But not on them. Ya can help me on other things there."
"Me help to?" Bo asked, seated on Cooter's shoulders and now hanging forward.
"Yeah, you can help to," Cooter grinned. "But ain't we got better things to do right now?"
"Cars are fun," Luke pointed out as he crawled out from under the car.
"Sure they are, but there are better things to start on than a real car," Cooter pointed out. "It's a bit big for ya still Luke."
"I'm big enough," Luke defended himself.
"Sure ya are, but ya haven't really done it yet, come on Luke, lets find ya something else to get started on." He led the way to the barn, with Bo seated on his shoulders. It wasn't that he doubted Luke's skills, but he wasn't all that big, and he could get hurt. It was one thing if Cooter pinched his hands doing something he shouldn't, he didn't want that to happen to Luke. There was still a lot of junk and spare parts in the barn, a lot of it things his father didn't care one whit what happened to it.
Searching through some boxes he found a few items he gave to Bo, an old speedometer, a rear view mirror, and an old headlight. That was suitable toys for a boy his age. Luke was ready to get started on the bigger things, but Cooter was kind of worried that his temper combined with his desire to prove himself good enough would get him hurt.
He grinned as he found an old carburetor, that could keep Luke busy, and help him learn useful things at the same time.
"Here Luke, want a real challenge?" he grinned, knowing Luke would never turn that down.
"Uhu," the dark haired boy nodded.
"See if ya can take this one apart, an' then put it back together, exactly like it was," Cooter challenged him.
"I can do that," Luke grinned. He settled down on the ground near where Cooter worked on the car and started to dismantle the thing. Soon realizing he needed to keep track of everything he stripped out of his shirt, putting it on the ground and arranging everything on it.
Bo was busy with his toys, he had found that if he spun the little jacket on the backside, he could make the needle jump up and indicate a speed, so he sat trying to see how fast he could make it go. Having jammed a tiny screwdriver into it and rotating it, trying to look at it at the same time. He was whooping and hollering loudly every time he succeeded.
Luke was working quietly, and Cooter had to look to see how he was doing. He had the thing pretty much all dismantled, he was showing some raw talent and if he could put the thing back together again Cooter would make sure he got the opportunity to learn. Then he could probably make a pretty good mechanic.
"Cooter, tell me how fast," Bo pleaded. He was sitting on the ground with the speedometer jammed between his knees, and his hands on the screwdriver. Cooter bent down to look and Bo twirled the screwdriver as fast as he could.
"Ya went an' did just over 80 miles," Cooter declared while Bo hollered loudly in triumph.
"Bo, will ya quit hollering like that," Luke demanded as he was having a hard time focusing on what he was doing.
"Ah come on Luke, he ain't too loud," Cooter stated.
"It's annoying," Luke stated as he got up and walked off. Cooter had no idea why he was in a bad mood, but Bo shouldn't be alone, so he stayed with him, rather then go after Luke.
"Luke's mad," Bo said looking up through blonde locks.
"Does seem a bit grumpy," Cooter agreed. "Know what's up?"
"Mad at me," Bo figured. "Make too much noise."
"I think something's bugging him," Cooter decided. "Ya know how much he likes ya Bo, no matter how much noise ya make."
"Bad bugs, leave Luke alone," Bo declared with a pout.
Cooter chuckled lightly, it wasn't the first time Bo took him a mite to literally.
"I think we might do best leave him alone a little, an' then when he gets to calm down, I reckon he's gonna want to play with ya again," Cooter advised.
"Cooter, why's Luke get mad?" Bo asked thoughtfully.
"I don't know exactly kiddo," Cooter explained. "What do ya wanna do while we wait?"
"Can we make tree house?" Bo asked having seen one some other kids had. "Nice tree house, an' make room for Luke, then maybe he won't be mad no more."
"If we's gonna make it for Luke, I don't think we should build it in a tree," Cooter decided. "But we can build a cabin in the trees behind the outhouse." He grinned trying to figure out how they could build it, it sounded like a really fun idea, and they still had plenty of old wooden crates and boards they could use.
Grabbing an old cart they started to load it up with things and drag it off towards the small group of trees there.
In the meantime Luke had gone off towards the house and sat down by the porch where one of the dogs was. The Davenports had three big dogs and one smaller one, and the small one liked to be petted and have his stomach scratched.
"Hey there Luke, aren't you playing with Bo and Cooter?" Cooter's mother asked him as she came out on the porch.
"I snapped at Bo," Luke admitted.
"An' why's that?" Rita asked, coming down to sit beside him and thinking he seemed a bit more glum than usual.
"Cooter's tossing Bo into the hay, an' he really likes it, but I don't, so I tried to help with the car, but I'm too little, an' when he gave me a carburetor to take apart, that was fun, but Bo's making so much noise, an' my head hurts," Luke explained.
"You got a headache?" Rita asked, thinking that for sure would explain it.
"Yeah, my head hurts, an' I didn't even fall or anything," Luke nodded.
"That's a headache then, an' when Bo was loud, the noise hurt, didn't it?" she asked knowingly and Luke nodded.
"Want to come with me an' see if we can do something to make it go away?" Rita asked with a smile.
"Yes please ma'am, Uncle Jesse told me to be good, an' I wasn't," Luke admitted as he climbed to his feet, the dog following him as he followed her inside. She took a pitcher from the refrigerator, cold water with just a touch of lemon to it.
"Here, drink this, don't have to drink it fast, but some water will do ya good."
Luke did what she told him, slowly draining the glass she had handed him.
"Where does yer head hurt the most?" she asked as she took the empty glass.
"Here," Luke told her pointing to his forehead and she nodded, wetting a kitchen towel in some cold water.
"Come, we can go to Cooter's room, an' then you can lay down a bit." She took him by the hand and led him there, settling him down on the bed after helping him off with his boots. "Now you lie down here an' rest fer a spell, an' I bet it'll pass," she smiled at him. Draping a light blanket over him before placing the folded up towel on his forehead and eyes.
"Does that feel better?" she asked softly and Luke gave a small smile.
"Yeah," he agreed.
"That's good, you just lie there an' rest fer a spell then," she smiled stroking his hair a bit. "I'm gonna leave the door open a crack if ya need something.
"Thanks Ma'am," Luke told her gratefully, relieved that she wasn't mad at him or anything.
Rita closed the door all but a crack and went outside to find the other two boys to let them know why Luke hadn't been in his best mood. Bo got worried for his cousin, but Cooter knew that it wasn't anything bad, and that his mother would take care of him, so he just kept Bo busy.
The little hut they were building was slowly progressing, since Bo was too small to really be able to build something. He did work really hard on what he could do though, and if Luke felt better later Cooter thought they might be able to finish it before the two boys had to head home.
In credit of the man who gave me a speedometer for a toy when I was young, I spent hours spinning that thing to see how fast I could make it show.
TBC
Please review, the Cricket is hungry……